The Rottie Den
 First Impressions - Rating: Average
When entering a forum, usually someone would expect to be welcomed to warm colors and a great atmosphere. I didn't feel this too much when entering 'The Rottie Den'. Your forum uses alot of different colors that aren't very welcoming and don't match very well. I think that there is something you can do to improve this. It looks as if you're using one of the generic skins for a forum version, whcih I don't like too much. If you were to use a theme from hitskin, it would look much better for your forum.
 Graphics & Layout - Rating: Poor
I think there are many things that you can to improve the look of your forum. I'm going to start at the top and work down. Your banner is plain, and should be the main attracting point of your forum. It's always hard for me to look at the banners that just cut out since they are always obtrusive. I think you could easily remove the pictures of the dogs below it, since they are scrolling just above the forum, and you could most likely remove the cobblestone effect to just have text, I think if you had an actual theme then it would look better than having the big banner. You could improve on your navigation bar too. I think you could make it something to do with dogs so that it makes more connection to the overall look of your forum. Moving down to your actual forums, I think that you should remove the Uppercasing in the category names and left, it would look better than they are now. I think you should also change the font color so that it is more readable. (all of this can be done in CSS). You can improve on your images also, Many people are afraid of using PNG images for their sizes, but I think that you should for your forum icons since without that it looks blurry. I highly reccomend that you use a theme to make your forum look better than it currently is. Finally, you should move the Announcements and Forum Feedback forums into reception since they are the most important and shouldn't be at the bottom of the forum.
 Forum Activity - Rating: Good
Our users have posted a total of 18366 messages
We have 236 registered users
The newest registered user is mitchtomsett
In total there are 2 users online :: 1 Registered, 0 Hidden and 1 Guest
Most users ever online was 19 on Wed Jul 21, 2010 8:12 pm
Registered Users: Dragon
Members connected during last 24 hours : camf, coz, daboysmum, debsandguy, derek hunter, Dragon, georgina, hughy, jogreen, kelking, Lisa T, MAXIMUS ROTT, mighallaj, Monties Mum, Mzp, of rotties, oolookipper, pjarvis6666, PWD, queenie-ali, rachaelk, renos, sallie, Shelle, Tysons mum, Zaksmum
For a forum of your size, having over 20 members online in 24 hours is good compared to most forums i've seen, however I don't think that it's enough for a forum to keep going. I was the only member online when I visited, and I think that could imrpove too. Try to do some Meta things, like keywords for google. If this isn't an option in the admin panel you can do it in the forum templates.
 Staff & Usergroups - Rating: Average
Having 6 Admins for a forum of your size is alot. I think you should demote some of them to moderator, since all of them can access admin panel. I think a max for the forum of your size would be two or three and then have about 3 moderators, maybe less because of your activity. Having moderators can be handy in case some of your members or a hacker visits, to help clean up the messages that are there.
 Originality & Unique Quality - Rating: Excellent
Your forum has some very unique charicteristics to it, and I like how you have worked hard to make it look great, and there are just a few steps to go. I haven't seen a forum like yours before, however I have seen several dog forums in my reviewing career. There are many more things that you can do to make your forum more original. I reccomend for this you hire a graphic designer (for free) to work at your forum and make you guys some awesome images. Good luck!
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- Code:
[center][img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/yfr214.png[/img]
[size=18][font=Trebuchet MS]The Rottie Den[/font][/size][/center]
[img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/red12.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#932222]First Impressions[/color][/b][/size] - [b]Rating: [color=green]Average[/color][/b]
[list][font=Trebuchet MS]When entering a forum, usually someone would expect to be welcomed to warm colors and a great atmosphere. I didn't feel this too much when entering 'The Rottie Den'. Your forum uses alot of different colors that aren't very welcoming and don't match very well. I think that there is something you can do to improve this. It looks as if you're using one of the generic skins for a forum version, whcih I don't like too much. If you were to use a theme from hitskin, it would look much better for your forum. [/font][/list]
[img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/purple11.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#9507c9]Graphics & Layout[/color][/b][/size] - [b]Rating: [color=olive]Poor[/color][/b]
[list][font=Trebuchet MS]I think there are many things that you can to improve the look of your forum. I'm going to start at the top and work down. Your banner is plain, and should be the main attracting point of your forum. It's always hard for me to look at the banners that just cut out since they are always obtrusive. I think you could easily remove the pictures of the dogs below it, since they are scrolling just above the forum, and you could most likely remove the cobblestone effect to just have text, I think if you had an actual theme then it would look better than having the big banner. You could improve on your navigation bar too. I think you could make it something to do with dogs so that it makes more connection to the overall look of your forum. Moving down to your actual forums, I think that you should remove the Uppercasing in the category names and left, it would look better than they are now. I think you should also change the font color so that it is more readable. (all of this can be done in CSS). You can improve on your images also, Many people are afraid of using PNG images for their sizes, but I think that you should for your forum icons since without that it looks blurry. I highly reccomend that you use a theme to make your forum look better than it currently is. Finally, you should move the Announcements and Forum Feedback forums into reception since they are the most important and shouldn't be at the bottom of the forum.[/font][/list]
[img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/orange12.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#e2a718]Forum Activity[/color][/b][/size] - [b]Rating: [color=blue]Good[/color][/b]
[list][font=Trebuchet MS][quote]Our users have posted a total of 18366 messages
We have 236 registered users
The newest registered user is mitchtomsett
In total there are 2 users online :: 1 Registered, 0 Hidden and 1 Guest
Most users ever online was 19 on Wed Jul 21, 2010 8:12 pm
Registered Users: Dragon
Members connected during last 24 hours : camf, coz, daboysmum, debsandguy, derek hunter, Dragon, georgina, hughy, jogreen, kelking, Lisa T, MAXIMUS ROTT, mighallaj, Monties Mum, Mzp, of rotties, oolookipper, pjarvis6666, PWD, queenie-ali, rachaelk, renos, sallie, Shelle, Tysons mum, Zaksmum[/quote]
For a forum of your size, having over 20 members online in 24 hours is good compared to most forums i've seen, however I don't think that it's enough for a forum to keep going. I was the only member online when I visited, and I think that could imrpove too. Try to do some Meta things, like keywords for google. If this isn't an option in the admin panel you can do it in the forum templates.
[/font][/list]
[img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/blue11.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#0f6ec7]Staff & Usergroups[/color][/b][/size] - [b]Rating: [color=green]Average[/color][/b]
[list][font=Trebuchet MS]Having 6 Admins for a forum of your size is alot. I think you should demote some of them to moderator, since all of them can access admin panel. I think a max for the forum of your size would be two or three and then have about 3 moderators, maybe less because of your activity. Having moderators can be handy in case some of your members or a hacker visits, to help clean up the messages that are there. [/font][/list]
[img]http://i37.servimg.com/u/f37/13/67/77/07/green11.png[/img] [size=16][b][color=#3acd0d]Originality & Unique Quality[/color][/b][/size] - [b]Rating: [color=red]Excellent[/color][/b]
[list][font=Trebuchet MS]Your forum has some very unique charicteristics to it, and I like how you have worked hard to make it look great, and there are just a few steps to go. I haven't seen a forum like yours before, however I have seen several dog forums in my reviewing career. There are many more things that you can do to make your forum more original. I reccomend for this you hire a graphic designer (for free) to work at your forum and make you guys some awesome images. Good luck![/font][/list]
[center][img]http://i28.servimg.com/u/f28/14/18/91/65/c1010.png[/img][/center]
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